A writer blogs about God, family, hope, time, health, relationships.

Category Archives: Love

Every afternoon or later, I take some time to read A More Excellent Way: Be in Health by Dr. Henry W. Wright. I read the Bible earlier because I’m aware that I need God’s input sooner, before I’m scrambling.

Whitaker House, New Kensington, PA published it. On page 13, Dr. Henry Wright emphasized this statement: “The beginning of all healing of spiritually rooted diseases begins when you make your peace with God, and accept His love once and for all, accepting yourself and others.”

After giving two Scriptures from the Old Testament: Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, he tells us how Jesus put the two together in the book of Matthew: Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:37-40 KJV)

God helps us to love Him wholeheartedly. God restores our emotions, our mind, our physical being so we can love ourselves after we’ve been condemned by people and the enemy of our soul. Then we’re able to love others.

In Romans 12 it says: I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2 NRSV)

I wrote, “So much to think about as I rest.”

Then, on yesterday I thought I heard the still, small voice of God say, “You are healed.”

I felt a tiny increase of health, so I said, “Thank You!”

Then, I found I was needed for Celebrate Recovery at night and I had the strength to go and cover a couple of the leadership spots because we had just enough leaders. Praise God!

As I read in Proverbs today, I kept seeing how difficult it is for people to live with a contentious woman, as found in Proverbs 21:9 and in Proverbs 21:19.

And in Proverbs 24:3 it tells us, “Through wisdom a house is built, And by understanding it is established; By knowledge the rooms are filled With all precious and pleasant riches.”

To me, a home filled with precious and pleasant riches is more than possessions. It’s love and camaraderie and years upon years of getting to know each other as well as having a place to rest and recover from stressful days.

It takes time and perseverance through sickness and boredom and not “feeling” love. It takes trying new things that don’t appeal to you because your spouse really enjoys them. Respect for each other helps a lot. These are a few ideas I pondered today.

I’m at the second library of the day, waiting for time to elapse between doctor’s appointments. I’ve been on the go so much, I haven’t been resting well. So, I’ve been trying to heal up using home remedies, praying and sitting down in the middle of the day to relax. I finally called the doctor this morning and maybe the healing is beginning after seeing him and before applying any medicine. Sometimes it’s just that way.

This afternoon, I’m heading back to the dermatologist and plan on avoiding that place until Spring.

My husband and I listened to some CD’s borrowed from a friend on our way up and then home from seeing family up north. Twice in nine days, someone recommended we see or hear Dan Mohler and his associate, Todd White. Our friend got home from seeing speaker Dan Mohler in PA that morning and the evening before.

When she offered the CD’s, I thought perhaps the Lord wanted us to hear the man. We both enjoyed his ministry and learned a few things. Many of his comments echoed our understanding of the Word of God. And as I said, we learned from him and appreciated the passion he spoke with and the clarity he imparted, as God had blessed him with insight.

My friend said her family listens to Dan Mohler on YouTube before the children go to bed each night. I couldn’t understand why until I heard him talk about the joy he finds with life in Christ.

When movies feature old people discussing death as happens in this show, I always think of how they totally ignore what eternity might be like on the other side. Could it be that by the time people are in their nineties that they’ve come to terms with ideas on death?

Although, a lady from our church lived at a nursing home for a year, and her roommate swore like a sailor. Before our friend left the home to get into her own apartment, in her late eighties, the roomie accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior at age 92. We prayed every Wednesday at our Ladies Bible study for this gal. Now she attends a Friday Bible study with a few people many weeks of the year.

I’ve noticed older couples with good marriages get along, for the most part, because they’ve hashed things out over the years. Either there’s been improvement or the other person decided it wasn’t important enough to argue about anymore.

As Christians, we’re told to love others as we love ourselves, so if we decide to do that, we’ll study our mate and try to do things we know that they really enjoy. I’ve done that here and there over the years, but lately I’m aware of some things that are not that difficult that I could have been doing and just didn’t, for whatever reason. I’m also more cognizant of nice things that my husband does for me and I’m trying to say thank you when I see it.

Plus, he changes over time, as I do, so the benefits of the new behaviors are a plus to our relationship. All of his life as an adult, he’s been in leadership and sometimes he just wants to do relaxing stuff. So, he started watching chefs and learned cooking techniques from programs available on television or online.

If I’m preparing a meal and feeling the crunch of time, I’ll ask him to dice the onions and he’ll show me a way that is safe with the sharp knife and he keeps the rooted end in place for ease of cutting. The next thing I know, he’s asking if I need anything else chopped or sliced. If he hated that kind of thing, I wouldn’t ask unless I felt absolutely desperate, and then he’d have the right to refuse.

I heard Focus on the Family yesterday on the radio. I caught the tail end of the program on marriage and they showcased the next day’s program with a quote. A lady said, “I started looking for the good things that he does.”

Probably a month or more ago, I read the first book in the Life of Faith: Millie Keith Series, copyright 2001 entitled, Millie’s Unsettled Season. Kerston R. Hamilton updated them and added more Scripture to the originals which were written by Martha Finley in 1876, just 11 years after the Civil War ended in America.

Millie is thirteen years old in the second book, Millie’s Courageous Days which is also copyrighted in 2001, and is published by Mission City Press, Inc., Franklin, TN.

There’s a marriage in the book which prompts Millie to ask her father how one knows that they are in love. He tells her to let him think on it overnight and to pray for wisdom for such an important question.

The next day he talks about 1 Corinthians 13. On page 91 her dad says, “Being in love, the kind of love that will last a lifetime, starts right here, in 1 Corinthians 13:4. ‘Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.’ If your feelings and your actions cannot stand up to these verses, then how could you be in love?”

In the book, one question led to another because as the heroine points out, these verses tell all Christians what love looks like. I’ve heard these Scriptures repeated at many marriages over the years. They are a target worth aiming for, and as we try to hit the mark we can’t help but reach a number of those worthwhile actions and attitudes. Some attributes I’ve struggled with and now, I can honestly say, I don’t have a problem with them by the grace of God. Others are still a work in progress.

I sat in a recliner reading Proverbs the other day and the song, “The King is Coming” popped into my brain out of nowhere. I sang that at a Christmas play four years ago or more.

From what I understand, Gloria Gaither wrote it in 1972, so I went to YouTube to copy the video link for it if you’d like to hear it.

I went to the nursing home for our weekly Bible study and after going through Mark 11, one of the younger women, sitting in a wheel chair and needing oxygen, asked about heaven. So, we read Rev. 21 and 22 for her. The end of chapter 22 tells us that the King is coming soon, be ready and tells us what type of sins will keep people out of heaven.

My daughter told me recently that the stars and planets are lined up as they were when Jesus arrived as a newborn over 2,000 years ago and so, many Christians are saying that Christ is coming back tomorrow. Her pastor asked her if she’s ready for Saturday. She said, “If people are saying Jesus is coming back on Saturday, September 23, 2017, He’ll come on another day because He said no one will know the day and the hour.”

He did tell us that we should be looking up because our redemption draws near. That we would know by the hurricanes, rumors of war, the love of Christians growing cold, people going to and fro over the earth, and earthquakes, etc.

Some time ago, then-President Obama said that America is not a Christian nation any longer. Our country has never been perfect even when considered a Christian nation, but it is becoming increasingly worse since many are trying out new philosophies.

The New Testament of the Bible in 1 John 4, (GNB), says this,

“1John 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God.

1Jn 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.

1Jn 4:9 And God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world, so that we might have life through him.

1Jn 4:10 This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven.

1Jn 4:11 Dear friends, if this is how God loved us, then we should love one another.

1Jn 4:12 No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in union with us, and his love is made perfect in us.

1Jn 4:13 We are sure that we live in union with God and that he lives in union with us, because he has given us his Spirit.

1Jn 4:14 And we have seen and tell others that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

1Jn 4:15 If we declare that Jesus is the Son of God, we live in union with God and God lives in union with us.

1Jn 4:16 And we ourselves know and believe the love which God has for us. God is love, and those who live in love live in union with God and God lives in union with them.

1Jn 4:17 Love is made perfect in us in order that we may have courage on the Judgment Day; and we will have it because our life in this world is the same as Christ’s.

1Jn 4:18 There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out all fear. So then, love has not been made perfect in anyone who is afraid, because fear has to do with punishment.

1Jn 4:19 We love because God first loved us.

1Jn 4:20 If we say we love God, but hate others, we are liars. For we cannot love God, whom we have not seen, if we do not love others, whom we have seen.

1Jn 4:21 The command that Christ has given us is this: whoever loves God must love others also.

There is no racism in God’s kingdom. God made every person in the image and likeness of God. See the beginning of the book of Genesis.

Also, God is no respecter of persons, it says in 1 Peter 1:17.

Here are verses with 1 Peter 1:17 included, in the CEV version of the Bible, a little easier form of writing to understand:

1Pe 1:13 Be alert and think straight. Put all your hope in how kind God will be to you when Jesus Christ appears.

1Pe 1:14 Behave like obedient children. Don’t let your lives be controlled by your desires, as they used to be.

1Pe 1:15 Always live as God’s holy people should, because God is the one who chose you, and he is holy.

1Pe 1:16 That’s why the Scriptures say, “I am the holy God, and you must be holy too.”

1Pe 1:17 You say that God is your Father, but God doesn’t have favorites! He judges all people by what they do. So you must honor God while you live as strangers here on earth.

1Pe 1:18 You were rescued from the useless way of life that you learned from your ancestors. But you know that you were not rescued by such things as silver or gold that don’t last forever.

1Pe 1:19 You were rescued by the precious blood of Christ, that spotless and innocent lamb.

1Pe 1:20 Christ was chosen even before the world was created, but because of you, he did not come until these last days.

1Pe 1:21 And when he did come, it was to lead you to have faith in God, who raised him from death and honored him in a glorious way. That’s why you have put your faith and hope in God.

God loves variety. He may have created different skin tones and types of hair that differ from one group of people to the next, but nowhere does it show that one race is superior or inferior to another. I’ve blogged about George Washington Carver. He sought God about knowing things in the universe and supposedly God said it was too big for any human to comprehend. So God chose to answer Mr. Carver with lots of information about the peanut. I’ve heard it said that God tells us in His Word that he gives people witty inventions. Professor George Washington Carver came up with a multitude of uses for the peanut–some in food products, many for businesses, with paint thinner as one example.

Neo-Nazis, KKK members, all who say they are Christians had better read their Bible. God is against hatred and Jesus said in John 10:10, (KJV): The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

God, please help our country to be unified by love and kindness and graciousness towards each other, I pray in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen.

Sunday morning we went to a picnic spot with a pond and a pavilion. We enjoyed a beautiful sunshiny day and lots of pleasant company accompanied by some tasty food. I got to know some of the people better that visited this year.

Then he gave us some direction. “Let’s pray like Jesus taught the disciples – starting out with ‘Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.’”

He went on to explain that hallowed denotes honor and praise. “How can you show God the respect due His name? What words can you describe Him with in the form of a prayer?”

We began talking to the Lord and when someone asked for needs to be met, my husband told the person that we’d get to that, but now is the time to exalt our Savior. A bit later, we did pray for personal requests with the addition of the phrase, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Jesus said in the New Testament, in Matthew 18:20, (KJV): “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

We didn’t linger a long time, but as we left each face exhibited peace and contentment.

Then, my husband and I began our Sunday night ritual: “Where should we eat?”

Sometimes I cook on a Sunday night, but if I’m tired and we’re able to, we eat out. There’s not a lot of restaurants open at that hour of the day.

I told my hubbie I was going to pray about it. We have a number of small towns around our little home spot and I’m not familiar with them all.

I felt impressed to head north and he was okay with it. We found a new restaurant, to us, that we both enjoyed and hope to visit again sometime.

I said, “What a nice day we had,” and he agreed.

This is the second Sunday night we’ve prayed at our church over the last thirty days and the people really liked it. Both times it was spontaneous and I missed the first one for a family member’s milestone birthday party in a nearby city.

I’m glad I made it for lots of reasons but when I saw the glow on one of the ladies’ faces outside of the church after the meeting, I thought, Aw, wish I’d been there.